1. Field of the Invention
The technical scope of the invention is that of processes enabling the inversion of a structure and in particular that of a vehicle body.
2. Description of the related art
It is known to invert all or part of a vehicle, for example, to enable equipment to be more easily mounted on the underside of the vehicle. The vehicle's mobility means, such as wheels, axles or tracks, may thereby be mounted.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,478 thus discloses an assembly process for a heavy vehicle (such as a truck), process in which specific tooling enables the chassis to be made to swivel so as to make its underside accessible. This tooling comprises jaws integral with a frame which is mounted able to swivel around a horizontal shaft. The shaft of this frame is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle (or its chassis).
This process and tooling are well adapted to the inversion of relatively light chassis (with of mass of less than 1,000 kg). They are, however, not well adapted to the inversion of a structure such as a vehicle or the chassis of a very heavy vehicle (mass of over 5 tons), as would be the case, for example, of an armored vehicle.
Indeed, tooling such as that described by U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,478 sized so as to be able to invert such a mass cannot be envisaged because of the substantial overhang and the resulting mechanical stresses.
It is necessary, however, to enable the simple mounting of equipment to the underside of the vehicle and it is therefore necessary for means to be provided to ensure the inversion of the vehicle after such mounting.
The sole solution envisaged to date is that of the implementation of heavy handling means adapted to the mass to be inverted, for example boom trucks.
However, such means are costly, cumbersome and time-consuming to implement. They require the installation of complex sling means and there is a high risk of falls or mishandling.